Task force formed to push through sewage plant upgrades

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This article was published 20/04/2023 (904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s new environment minister has formed a task force to upgrade Winnipeg’s wastewater system, which has been dogged by delays, rising costs and buck-passing.

Kevin Klein, a former city councillor, made the announcement Thursday alongside current Winnipeg councillor Brian Mayes.

“We really need to get on the same page and pick up the pace,” said Mayes, who chairs the city’s waste, water and environment committee.

The North End sewage treatment plant is Winnipeg’s oldest and largest sewage treatment plant. Built in 1937, it provides 70 per cent of the city’s wastewater treatment. It’s undergoing one of the biggest, most complex upgrade projects in North America in three phases to meet the requirements of its Environment Act licence. Its provincial licence requires treatment for nitrogen and phosphorus to reduce the amount of nutrients dumped into waterways that end up polluting Lake Winnipeg.

Work began on the first phase in 2021. It includes a new power substation and upgraded headworks. The second phase includes the construction of facilities to turn wastewater sludge into biosolids. The third phase is for nutrient removal facilities.

Mayes said it’s been slow going thanks to the $2.2-billion price tag and involvement of the three levels of government.

The councillor has been working to get the project done for more than a decade.

“I used to get up at council in despair and ask about how could this North End plant be taking so long,” Mayes recalled. “All three levels of government seem to want to get going — how could this be delayed?” There were endless meetings and miscommunication, he said.

“It is a great relief, I think, to have (minister) Klein take action to get this task force going,” he said Thursday. “It doesn’t guarantee we’ll have hundreds of millions of dollars, but I think it avoids some of the delays that have plagued the program over the years,” he said.

The task force aims to get the three-phase upgrade completed by 2030, a target date neither politician is sure can be met.

The second phase of the project was initially estimated to cost $552 million. In August, all three levels of government agreed to share that cost. The price tag has since risen to $912 million.

Mayes said they now have to meet with both levels of government to address that gap and figure out how to pay for it.

Klein said he couldn’t promise the provincial government will cover the cost hikes, but said completing all three phases is a priority for Premier Heather Stefanson, who handed the former city councillor the environment portfolio in a Jan. 31 cabinet shuffle.

“Everyone knows this is an important project,” Klein said. “We want to make sure we keep everyone on the same page and people focused. The worst thing that could happen is this project gets put on the corner of a desk and forgotten about.”

Creation of a wastewater task force, which includes leadership at the ministerial level, is encouraging, said Alexis Kanu, executive director of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation that, for years, hounded governments to get going on Winnipeg’s sewage treatment plant overhaul.

“That has been lacking for a long time and I am hopeful minister Klein will now be able to accelerate phosphorus compliance at the North End treatment plant,” Kanu said in an email.

Klein said the task force includes Experimental Lakes Area senior research scientist Michael Paterson and more members will be announced in the coming days.

The minster said he hopes Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid will take part. Duguid is familiar with the North End wastewater treatment saga and is parliamentary secretary to Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault.

Duguid could not be reached for comment Thursday.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca